How Heat Cycles lead to Engagement
by Blade of Hellfire
Summary: Sougo both loves and hates Kagura's time of the month; he gets to have her in bed for a week, and there isn't any messy bloodflow, unlike human women. But with his paranoia about these weeks, stemming from Dai-chan', Kagura introduces the Sadist Prince to the final engagement ritual of the Yato.


**Hey guys! So, someone requested that I write a fic of how the ring idea came to be, so here it is! This person also requested I write a KamuixNobume fic dealing with the rings as well, so I might be doing this to. For clarification, this happesn after Kagura's Boyfriend arc, but Kagura never officially calls Dai-chan her boyfriend. He went crazy after she rejected him, and Sougo isn't happy when he finds out. So anyways, I hope you guys like it.**  
** Read, enjoy, review!  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Gintama  
**

In dating Kagura, Sougo learned quite a few different things about the Yato clan, one of them being romance and alien-species quirks. Said quirks include an early-activated sex-drive once a relationship is initiated ('Thank you alien-species', says Sougo), advanced and perfect developments (Sakura's body from the time skip), and 'the time of the month'. To most men, 'the time of the month', was a term to refer to the monthly red devil that lasted five to seven days, that turned all women into man-hating she-devils, that refused to have sex. To make matters worse, this time of the month was when women could get pregnant, so most men avoided sex with their female partners at the time, or took extreme precautions and signed up for insurance policies. Luckily or unluckily, that was not the case for the Yato.

Female Yato go through their monthly cycles, but it's a different hell than human women, and one that Sougo sometimes preferred, but at other times didn't. Instead of having a steady and painful stream of blood flow out of them, Yato women lost their strength. That's right; during their time of ovulation, a Yato woman's strength is depleted to almost nothing (to a normal human), and can only get pregnant during the first day of their cycle- not before or after. The problem was, even after the one dangerous day, they still didn't have any strength back until after the week of hell was complete. It wasn't like it was impossible for a Yato woman to get pregnant otherwise, but that one day was definitely sure-fire. Supposedly, the reason why this happened was that a Yato woman's body was training to give all its strength to nurture the womb when the time came, but like all women, Kagura hated this. And for good reason to.

Sougo both loved and hated these monthly weeks. Without her strength, Kagura was subject to much more of his S&M fetishes than usual; Sougo normally turned it up with bondage due to Kagura being unable to break the restraints. Her body was also twice as sensitive as normal, which was another thing the sadist prince took full advantage of, during her time of weakness. Don't get him wrong, he loved having sex with Kagura regardless, but being a natural sadist and bondage fanatic- he was more than thrilled upon first discovery. It was as if Santa saw the pureness in his reason for wanting Hijikata dead, and rewarded him. Yes, other than restraining himself on the first day of the cycle, he spent six days eating from the Garden of Eden. Despite the two-day beating and silent treatment he received from Kagura afterwards, it was definitely worth it.

On the other hand, there are things Okita Sougo absolutely hated about his lover's time of the month. The first and foremost was the Kagura's loss of strength; despite the fun Sougo had in bed with her, it was extremely dangerous to his beloved. She was no stronger than a normal fifteen year-old girl during that week, which meant she had none of her normal defenses on her. Even though it was rare for them to be seen without each other now, strange men could hit on her, or worse, force her to go along with them. At one point, the officer tried to convince Kagura to be his bed slave during these monthly weeks, bondage and all; which he got a blunt 'no way' in reply, as well as a very damaging kick in the balls. The alternative was that she stay at Danna's all day for the week, and not come out- but that earned both him and Gintoki a punch in the face. So essentially, in her turbulent time, she was too prideful to admit she was weak.

But that wasn't all, oh no, there was one reason why Okita abhorred this cycle most of all, female Yato in heat, smell very good to other male Amanto. Sougo couldn't smell it, so he supposed it was some kind of alien pheromone, but that made him all the more angry when he thought about it. Other males could smell something he couldn't on Kagura- unforgivable! The reason why this was an issue now was because he had the courtesy of finding out that his girlfriend had been hit on by a giant alien prince, when he had been conveniently out of town for a far-away mission.

_"Sadist? What's wrong?" Kagura observed her boyfriend carefully, wondering what was said. They had their usual meet and greet, and then started their normal sparring match; both verbal and physical. At this point, Okita had been gone for about a week, and was not aware of the happenings of that giant prince. He thought it was strange that Danna and Megane were trying to avoid him at all cost; even Hijiakata seemed more jumpy than usual. And when Okita said that there was no way any other males would find Kagura attractive, the Yato girl immediately argued with 'Dai-chan'. Which is what caused Okita to halt the match with his beloved._

_"China…please clarify with what you said. While I was gone, there was a prince that demanded to see you, and you agreed to meet with him?" _ _He asked carefully._

_"Yeah! Soyo-chan said it'd be hard for negotiations if I didn't or something, so I humored him a little, and Dai-chan took it way too far. I hadn't noticed that my monthly hell-week had started because you had been gone that week, but looking back on it, that's why I fell for such a stupid trick, and why my guard wasn't up. You see Yato women lose their strength and our senses get really sensitive, so that's why that creep was able to knock me out with those fumes. Unlike human women, Yato women can't tell until it either comes out in bed or around us." Kagura explained. "Sadist…?" Noticing his mood was darkening even further._

_"China…what do you mean comes out in bed?" Okita asked calmly._

_"I mean that we're extra sensitive and we become pregnant the first day afterwards, and don't even think about it Sadist! Not for ten years, is that happening! Besides, it's only the first day that's dangerous!" Kagura pointed an accusatory finger at him. _

_Surprisingly, Sougo's mood hadn't changed to excited like she expected, instead he seemed to get angrier. "What do you mean by around you, China?"_

_"Oh! Other Amanto can sense when us female Yato are in heat apparently. Baka-niichan and Papi warned me about it, but I didn't much stock into it. Thought they were trying to scare me out of dating, uh-huh! Though I don't think Baka-niichan cares anymore, he's got Nobu-chan now!" Kagura explained._

_"I see. So what you are saying is: this prince sensed you were in heat." Sougo felt his hands reaching for his katana._

_"Well yeah, because he was in Kabukicho! But it's not like it extends beyond planets or anything!" Kagura argued._

_Sougo was getting extremely pissed off, it became increasingly obvious why Hijikata sent him on that week-long mission in Akita; that damned alien prince came and wanted to meet Kagura. That or that stupid Soyo-hime arranged it, and thought it would be okay. "So what you're saying is…the only reason why other Amanto didn't hit on you was because they were afraid of Danna or Baldy."_

_"Oh they didn't know about it; Yato can't sense it between family members, it would make things awkward,uh-huh!" The girl explained. "Sadist…what's wrong? You're seriously freaking me out now."_

_"China…you're staying with me during these weeks; no argument." Sougo said bluntly._

_"SADIST!"_

That conversation happened approximately six months ago, and Hijikata and Kondo were still on thin ice with the Sadist prince for purposefully sending him away during this incident. Interestingly enough, he wasn't allowed near the Shogun palace either, something about cutting a little girl in half wasn't allowed. A little girl who thought it was amusing to set his girlfriend up on dates with other men. As for Danna and Shinpachi…the only reason why they were alive was because they could lend additional eyes for him during this time. But still…this didn't help his current situation. Right now, he was watching his lover and the other two Odd-Jobs members from a rooftop, monitoring Kagura like a hawk. Unlike humans, there was no distinct pattern or set time when Yato's got their heat, so it could literally happen at any time. So far, she hadn't shown any signs, but he was keeping his eye out for anything.

"Gin-chan! Hurry up and carry your weight, useless perm-head!" Kagura shouted. Okita could tell Kagura was frustrated; the assignment they were given was to essentially clean up a bunch of wood and debris around the property; seeing as a storm had passed through recently. The only reason why they even accepted the job was because the client was willing to pay them so much. The guy's servants when on strike, and Odd-Jobs was very fast discovering why.

"Yes do what the young lady says, and hurry this up…I have a photo-shoot scheduled in two hours for this backyard!" There was a fat, fake-gangster type fanning himself in a lawn chair and wearing a speedo fanning himself on this hot day. "Can't have the girls being grossed out by the mess."

"Yeah, that's what'll gross them out." Shinpachi replied in sarcasm.

"Hey! I'll have you know, that the ladies line up for me!" The hairy fatso said.

"Are you sure it's not prostitutes; the horrible things they have to go through at night." Gintoki shivered.

"I'll prove it! You!" He pointed to Kagura, who wore her summer chengosam outfit (shorts and shirt). "You find me attractive, right?!"

Sougo clenched his teeth, and took out his bazooka. He took aim and was about to fire, until- "Ew! Who would like you, you stinky, fat geezer?!" And for extra emphasis, she sent a tremendous strike to his jaw with her umbrella. Unfortunately, this made for a hasty escape, but…for some reason, it made the sadist prince fairly relieved. Looking at his lover retreat with Danna and Megane, he thought…this would suffice for now.

**A Few Hours Later**

Kagura ran to meet Sougo in their usual meeting place- the park bench; that stupid job had taken longer than she thought, so she ended up being fairly late. To her surprise, she found Okita sitting on the bench like usual, looking bored as he waited. His head bucked up and turned towards her. He stood up as she approached him, catching her as she hugged him. "Hey Sadist! Sorry, I'm late! Stupid job-"

"China." Sougo stopped her. "I want you to tell me something."

Frowning, she nodded. "Sure, what is it, Sadist?"

"I want to know how I can officially claim you as mine, in terms of the Yato clan." Okita said bluntly.

"What?" Kagura couldn't have heard right.

"I'm serious China. For these past few months I've been going crazy trying to convey a plan to establish that no humans or aliens get any ideas in their heads that you're available. I want to prove to everyone without a doubt that you're mine." Sougo explained. "China, surely you understand; you worry about me and other females don't you?"

"Uh…not really. I know what turns you on, and you get bored of women who submit." Kagura said casually; this wasn't the first conversation they've had about this sadly.

"Really? What about Imai?" Okita frowned.

"Nobu-chan? What do you mean? She's with Baka-Niichan." She tilted her head in confusion.

"China!" Sougo put his head on her shoulder. "Don't yo remember? She wanted my ***?"

"Oh!" Kagura smiled, as Sougo shifted his eyesight to her face. "Yeah, she did! But after she did Baka-Niichan, she said that wasn't yours wasn't even worth mentioning."

Ouch. Somehow, that was just a stab right to the heart as Sougo felt it. "So…you have no insecurities as me, really China? What if I were to prove you should?"

"Both of us know you wouldn't be able to get it up, Sadist. Otherwise that would've happened with Nobu-neechan when you fought her." She said bluntly. "And if I tell you the rituals, that doesn't mean anything on this planet, because the customs are different, uh-huh!"

"No. I need to prove that I can handle whatever traditions the Yato have, and if you don't tell me, then I'll ask the Baldy." Sougo threatened.

"You hate him." Kagura knew her boyfriend would avoid talking to her father if at all possible. "Besides, I don't care what Papi or Nii-chan think of you."

"Fine, I'll ask your brother." After a moment of silence, Kagura suddenly pushed him off her slightly. Expecting a fight, Sougo braced himself for the blows, but instead got a smile.

"Meet me at Gin-chan's in an hour!"

**60min Later**

As promised he came to the Odd-Jobs HQ; he slid the door open, having lost the habit of knocking since he and Kagura started dating. "China?" He called out and noticed neither Danna or Megane were home.

"In here!" Okita followed Kagura's voice into the kitchen; she stood there in her shorter Chinese dress without her shorts; exposing her perfect legs to him. Her hands were behind her back and she looked extremely happy.

Okita felt himself getting hard, but restrained himself. "China, seducing me isn't going to help you."

"Sadist! I'm not seducing you!" She shouted. "I have something to show you, so come here!" Doing as she said, Okita was soon right in front of her. Once he was close enough, Kagura pulled out a beautifully crafted wooden box with several carvings on it. "Since you're so insistent on doing it Yato-style, I'll tell you the ritual rules. You must fight and defeat your partner to have the proposal be valid, as well as fight your future in-laws with your partner standing alongside you. This symbolizes that you're ready to start your own life, and that there's nothing those old geezers can do to stop you, uh-huh!" Kagura continued. "You've already done steps 1 & 2, so I didn't think it was such a big deal to you, but since you're so worked up about this- I'll show you the official piece of Yato engagement and marriage." Finally, Kagura opened the box, and revealed a beautiful gold, diamond ring around a gold chain.

"China…are you proposing to me?" Okita seriously hoped Kagura wasn't getting that tradition mixed up. "You do know the guys are supposed to give the rings to the girl, right?"

"Yeah, I know." Kagura took out the object and handed it to Okita. "This was my Mami's ring, Baka-Niichan has Papi's." Seeing her lover's confusion, she continued. "In Yato custom, each family has their own wedding rings they pass down from one generation to the next. So instead of the guy and girl proposing to each other, they just go straight to their own parents and ask for permission. If permission's granted, you would wear the ring around your neck and place them on your finger upon marriage."

Widening in understanding, Okita spoke. "China…are you saying that if you wear this ring, you're officially stating that you have an owner?"

"Sadist! I'm trying to do something nice here!" Kagura huffed. "And yes, that's essentially what it means. Yato wear these rings around our necks to state that we're in a committed relationship, and that it's not subject to change until marriage. And that's because the fingers is where things get permanent to a Yato." Taking the necklace back from Okita, she put it around her neck and grinned. The diamond ring sparkled brightly on her dress. "What do you think Sadist, satisfied?"

Frowning, Okita replied: "I'm still buying yo one when the time comes."

"I know." Kagura grinned. "But that's what makes it special, right Sadist?"

A rare pout formed on Sougo's mouth, one that only his lover would ever see, and pulled her into deep hug. "Yeah, you're right. So you'll wear the ring then?"

"Yep! And you'll stop freaking out then, uh-huh?" She asked.

"…I'll make an effort…" Okita fondled the ring in his fingers momentarily, before abandoning it to fondle his girlfriend's growing breasts.

"SADIST!" She swatted his hands away and covered herself, turning away from her.

Sougo smirked, and placed his hands on her waist, leaning her back towards him. He whispered in her ear. "You sure you weren't trying to seduce me, China?" He felt up her bare leg, making her breath hitch.

"Well…I figured I'd have to bribe you." Kagura sighed, but smiled slightly when she felt his boner. "But…no sense in wasting it, uh-huh."

"And this…is why you're completely indispensable China." Sougo's smirk could be seen through dimensions; mentally giving everyone of Kagura's fanboys the finger.

**Review please! Let me know if you have any questions! **


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